Collections Online | British Museum

Please enable JavaScript in your web browser to get the best experience.

James Puckle

Also known as: James Puckle; primary name: Puckle, James
Details: individual; author/poet; British; Male
Life dates: c. 1667-1724
Biography: Inventor of an early machine gun; author of 'The Club'. Photograph of his trade card illustrated in Sotheby's Catalogue of Hodgkin Sale of 1914 in Heal Collection (Heal,69.52). The card advertises "A Defence Defending King George your Country and Lawes [sic] Is Defending Your Selves and Protestant Cause. Invented by Mr. James Puckle For Bridges, Breaches, Lines and Passes, Ships, Boats, Houses, and other Places. N.B. The Machine can be made to Discharge Granado [sic] Shells, as well as Bullets..." The card is accompanied by its description in the Sotheby's catalogue, which includes the following text: "...illustration of the gun and its parts, with key below (1720?). A Most Interesting And Rare Broadside, Possibly Unique. Mr. Austin Dobson, in his 'Notes on Puckle', says that it 'reads like an anticipation of the Maxim or Nordenfeldt gun.' Accompanying the lot is an early portrait of Puckle, and a MS copy of Mr. Dobson's description of the broadside."
Bibliography: ODNMB

24 related objects

photographic print; trade-card

Museum number: Heal,69.52 |
Producer name: BIOG64572 Print made by:Anonymous |
Production date: 1720

print; book-illustration

Museum number: 1874,0711.710 |
Producer name: After:John ThurstonBlock cut by:John Thompson |
Production date: 1789-1822

print; book-illustration

Title: Gamester |
Museum number: 1900,0613.138 |
Producer name: BIOG32284 Block cut by:William Hughes |
Production date: 1808-1825

print; book-illustration; satirical print

Museum number: Y,5.229 |
Producer name: Print made by:John ThompsonAfter:John Thurston |
Production date: 1817

print; book-illustration

Title: Buffoon |
Museum number: 1900,0613.583 |
Producer name: Print made by:Henry WhiteAfter:John Thurston |
Production date: 1817

print; book-illustration; satirical print

Museum number: Y,5.227 |
Producer name: Print made by:John ThompsonAfter:John Thurston |
Production date: 1817

print; book-illustration; satirical print

Museum number: Y,5.230 |
Producer name: Print made by:John ThompsonAfter:John Thurston |
Production date: 1817

print; frontispiece

Title: James Puckle |
Museum number: 1850,0223.570 |
Producer name: Print made by:George VertueAfter:John Closterman |
Production date: 1713

print; satirical print; broadside

Title: The Bublers Mirrour, or England's Folley |
Museum number: 1868,0808.3484 |
Producer name: BIOG20574 Published by:Thomas Bowles II |
Production date: 1720

print; advertisement

Museum number: 1874,0711.711-712 |
Producer name: After:John ThurstonBlock cut by:John Thompson |
Production date: 1817 |
Production place: Printed in:London (England)

print; book-illustration

Title: Traveller |
Museum number: 1900,0613.584 |
Producer name: Print made by:Henry WhiteAfter:John Thurston |
Production date: 1817

print; book-illustration

Title: Critic |
Museum number: 1900,0613.205 |
Producer name: BIOG20739 Block cut by:Allen Robert Branston |
Production date: 1817

print; book-illustration

Museum number: 1874,0711.708 |
Producer name: After:John ThurstonBlock cut by:John Thompson |
Production date: 1789-1822

print; satirical print; book-illustration

Museum number: 1900,0613.421 |
Producer name: BIOG40022 Block cut by:Charlton Nesbitt |
Production date: 1834

print; book-illustration

Title: Projector |
Museum number: 1900,0613.137 |
Producer name: BIOG32284 Block cut by:William Hughes |
Production date: 1808-1825

print; book-illustration

Museum number: 1874,0711.709 |
Producer name: After:John ThurstonBlock cut by:John Thompson |
Production date: 1789-1822

print; satirical print; book-illustration

Museum number: 1900,0613.422 |
Producer name: BIOG40022 Block cut by:Charlton Nesbitt |
Production date: 1834

print; book-illustration; satirical print

Museum number: Y,5.252 |
Producer name: Print made by:John ThompsonAfter:John Thurston |
Production date: 1817

print; book-illustration; satirical print

Museum number: Y,5.253 |
Producer name: Print made by:John ThompsonAfter:John Thurston |
Production date: 1817

print; advertisement; leaflet

Museum number: 2006,U.3366.33 |
Producer name: BIOG131718 Published by:John Johnson |
Production date: 1816-1817 |
Production place: Published in:Clerkenwell

print; book-illustration

Title: Illustrations to Puckle's Club |
Museum number: 1866,1208.607-630 |
Producer name: Print made by:J. ThompsonPrint made by:Henry White |
Production date: 1820

print; frontispiece

Title: James Puckle |
Museum number: 1850,0223.571 |
Producer name: Print made by:George VertueAfter:John Closterman |
Production date: 1713

print; satirical print; broadside

Title: The Bublers Mirrour, or England's Folley |
Museum number: G,12.138 |
Producer name: BIOG20574 Published by:Thomas Bowles II |
Production date: 1720

prospectus

Museum number: Y,5.315 |
Producer name: BIOG48415 Print made by:John Thompson |
Production date: 1817

Free entry

Opening hours